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Degradation of a metallic film under harsh thermal-mechanical-electrical coupling field conditions determines its service temperature and lifetime. In this work, the self-heating degradation behaviors of Pt thin films above 1000 °C were studied in situ by TEM at the nanoscale. The Pt films degraded mainly through void nucleation and growth on the Pt-SiNx interface. Voids preferentially formed at the grain boundary and triple junction intersections with the interface. At temperatures above 1040 °C, the voids nucleated at both the grain boundaries and inside the Pt grains. A stress simulation of the suspended membrane suggests the existence of local tensile stress in the Pt film, which promotes the nucleation of voids at the Pt-SiNx interface. The grain-boundary-dominated mass transportation renders the voids grow preferentially at GBs and triple junctions in a Pt film. Additionally, under the influence of an applied current, the voids that nucleated inside Pt grains grew to a large size and accelerated the degradation of the Pt film.

Menglong Wang,1– 3,* Wei Pan,1– 3,* Yao Xu,1– 3,* Jishou Zhang,1– 3 Jun Wan,1– 3 Hong Jiang1– 3 1Department of Cardiology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430060, People’s Republic of China; 2Cardiovascular Research Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430060, People’s Republic of China; 3Hubei Key Laboratory of Cardiology, Wuhan, 430060, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Hong Jiang; Jun Wan, Department of Cardiology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430060, People’s Republic of China, Email hong-jiang@whu.edu.cn; wanjun@whu.edu.cnAbstract: Microglia are tissue-resident macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS). In the CNS, microglia play an important role in the monitoring and intervention of synaptic and neuron-level activities. Interventions targeting microglia have been shown to improve the prognosis of various neurological diseases. Recently, studies have observed the activation of microglia in different cardiovascular diseases. In addition, different approaches that regulate the activity of microglia have been shown to modulate the incidence and progression of cardiovascular diseases. The change in autonomic nervous system activity after neuroinflammation may be a potential intermediate link between microglia and cardiovascular diseases. Here, in this review, we will discuss recent updates on the regulatory role of microglia in hypertension, myocardial infarction and ischemia/reperfusion injury. We propose that microglia serve as neuroimmune modulators and potential targets for cardiovascular diseases.Keywords: neuroimmune, autonomic nervous system, central-peripheral crosstalk, sympathetic nervous system

Side-by-side electrospinning is a powerful but challenging technology that can be used to prepare Janus nanofibers for various applications. In this work, cellulose acetate (CA) and polycaprolactone (PCL) were used as polymer carriers for silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and lavender oil (LO), respectively, processing these into two-compartment Janus fibers. A bespoke spinneret was used to facilitate the process and prevent the separation of the working fluids. The process of side-by-side electrospinning was recorded with a digital camera, and the morphology and internal structure of the products were characterized by electron microscopy. Clear two-compartment fibers are seen. X-ray diffraction patterns demonstrate silver nanoparticles have been successfully loaded on the CA side, and infrared spectroscopy indicates LO is dispersed on the PCL side. Wetting ability and antibacterial properties of the fibers suggested that PCL-LO//CA-Ag NPs formulation had strong antibacterial activity, performing better than fibers containing only one active component. The PCL-LO//CA-Ag NPs had a 20.08 ± 0.63 mm inhibition zone for E. coli and 19.75 ± 0.96 mm for S. aureus. All the fibers had water contact angels all around 120°, and hence, have suitable hydrophobicity to prevent water ingress into a wound site. Overall, the materials prepared in this work have considerable promise for wound healing applications.

Community governance is the “micro-cell” of social governance and the foundation of the governance system. The rational selection logic of community governance policy reflects the value orientation, goal selection, and tool guarantee of governance policy. It is the result of the interaction between government and public values and it reflects the final value choice in the form of policy text and tries to balance policy rationality through accurate calculation. Through the analysis of 100 government work reports and 63 community governance policy documents of the Chinese government from 2013 to 2022, it was found that “People-oriented” was the core value orientation of governance policy. “Better life” was a key target choice for governance policy. “Diversified tools” were an important implementation guarantee for governance policy. These rational choices were consistent between the central and the local governments, but there was a conflict between localities. Urban and rural community governance policies need to establish a public space between policy rationality and value selection to solve the targeting bias of policy rationality in the future. This paper solves the conflict between policy rationality and value choice using the paths of expert think tank construction, highlighting leading goals, and using technology empowerment, to adjust the tension between the two through reasonable value choice and balanced policy rationality, to achieve the goal of urban and rural community governance modernization.

Background The third-generation hybrid rice technology can be constructed by transforming a recessive nuclear male sterile (NMS) mutant with a transgenic cassette containing three functional modules: the wild type male fertility gene to restore the fertility of the mutant, the pollen killer gene that specifically kills the pollen grains carrying the transgene, and the red fluorescence protein (RFP) gene to mark the transgenic seed (maintainer). The transgenic plant produces 1:1 NMS seeds and maintainer seeds that can be distinguished by the RFP signal. However, the RFP signals in the partially filled or pathogen-infected maintainer seeds are often too weak to be detected by RFP-based seed sorting machine, resulting in intermingling of the maintainer seeds with NMS seeds. Results Here we constructed a weight-based seed sorting system for the third-generation hybrid rice technology by silencing the genes encoding ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGP) essential for endosperm starch biosynthesis via endosperm-specific expression of artificial microRNAs (amiRNAs). In this system, the NMS seeds have normal endosperm and are heavy, but the maintainer seeds have shrunken endosperms and are light-weighted. The maintainer seeds can be easily and accurately sorted out from the NMS seeds by weight-sorting machines, so pure and fully filled NMS seeds are available. Conclusions The weight-based seed sorting system shows obvious advantages over the RFP-based seed sorting system in accuracy, efficiency, and cost for propagation of pure male sterile seeds. These characteristics will significantly increase the value and transgenic safety of the third-generation hybrid rice technology.

Miniaturization of wideband antennas has attracted much attention for its wide application in modern society. This article proposes a novel broadband miniaturized four-ridged horn antenna (FRHA) with high gain operating from 2.6 to 8.4 GHz. By filling the FRHA with the epoxy-laminated glass cloth board, the side length of the aperture realizes 48% reduction comparing to a traditional ridged horn antenna. The cuboid-shaped polyethylene lens provides good impedance matching between the antenna and the air at low frequencies and decreases the aperture phase error at high frequencies, which optimizes the radiating characteristics in the whole operating band.

Crimping-type connectors are widely used in the aerospace industry due to their high reliability. At present, all manufacturers have clear requirements for crimping-type electrical connector contacts, crimping pliers selection, and wire gauge matching relationship, but they have not mentioned the reliability test after the contacts which are installed in the connector. In this paper, by researching the detection method of the contact fixity of the contact into the connector, it solves the problem that the contact is installed in the connector and further improves the reliability and detectability of the contact into the connector.

Additional file 1: Materials and Methods. Table S1. List of primers.

Pollen exine contains complex biopolymers of aliphatic lipids and phenolics. Abnormal development of pollen exine often leads to plant sterility. Molecular mechanisms regulating exine formation have been studied extensively but remain ambiguous. Here we report the analyses of three GDSL esterase/lipase protein genes, OsGELP34, OsGELP110, and OsGELP115, for rice exine formation. OsGELP34 was identified by cloning of a male sterile mutant gene. OsGELP34 encodes an endoplasmic reticulum protein and was mainly expressed in anthers during pollen exine formation. osgelp34 mutant displayed abnormal exine and altered expression of a number of key genes required for pollen development. OsGELP110 was previously identified as a gene differentially expressed in meiotic anthers. OsGELP110 was most homologous to OsGELP115, and the two genes showed similar gene expression patterns. Both OsGELP110 and OsGELP115 proteins were localized in peroxisomes. Individual knockout of OsGELP110 and OsGELP115 did not affect the plant fertility, but double knockout of both genes altered the exine structure and rendered the plant male sterile. OsGELP34 is distant from OsGELP110 and OsGELP115 in sequence, and osgelp34 and osgelp110/osgelp115 mutants were different in anther morphology despite both were male sterile. These results suggested that OsGELP34 and OsGELP110/OsGELP115 catalyze different compounds for pollen exine development.

Pollen grains are covered by exine that protects the pollen from stress and facilitates pollination. Here we isolated a male sterile mutant s13283 in rice exhibiting aborted pollen with abnormal exine and defective aperture. The mutant gene encodes a novel plasma membrane-localized legume-lectin receptor kinase that we named OsLecRK-S.7. OsLecRK-S.7 was expressed at different levels in all tested tissues and throughout anther development. In vitro kinase assay showed OsLecRK-S.7 capable of autophosporylation. Mutation in s13283 (E560K) and mutation of the conserved ATP binding site (K418E) both knocked out the kinase activity. Mass spectrometry showed Thr376 , Ser378 , Thr386 , Thr403 , and Thr657 to be the autophosphorylation sites. Mutation of individual autophosphorylation site affected the in vitro kinase activity to different degrees, but did not abolish the gene function in fertility complementation. oslecrk-s.7 mutant plant overexpressing OsLecRK-S.7 recovered male fertility but showed severe growth retardation with reduced number of tillers, and these phenotypes were abolished by E560K or K418E mutation. The results indicated that OsLecRK-S.7 was a key regulator of pollen development.

Large-scale production of male sterile seeds can be achieved by introducing a fertility-restoration gene linked with a pollen-killer gene into a recessive male sterile mutant. We attempted to construct this system in rice by using a late-stage pollen-specific (LSP) promoter driving the expression of maize α-amylase gene ZM-AA1. To obtain such promoters in rice, we conducted comparative RNA-seq analysis of mature pollen with meiosis anther, and compared this with the transcriptomic data of various tissues in the Rice Expression Database, resulting in 269 candidate LSP genes. Initial test of nine LSP genes showed that only the most active OsLSP3 promoter could drive ZM-AA1 to disrupt pollen. We then analyzed an additional 22 LSP genes and found 12 genes stronger than OsLSP3 in late-stage anthers. The promoters of OsLSP5 and OsLSP6 showing higher expression than OsLSP3 at stages 11 and 12 could drive ZM-AA1 to inactivate pollen, while the promoter of OsLSP4 showing higher expression at stage 12 only could not drive ZM-AA1 to disrupt pollen, suggesting that strong promoter activity at stage 11 was critical for pollen inactivation. The strong pollen-specific promoters identified in this study provided valuable tools for genetic engineering of rice male sterile system for hybrid rice production.

Background Branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) catabolic defect is an emerging metabolic hallmark in failing hearts in human and animal models. The therapeutic impact of targeting BCAA catabolic flux under pathological conditions remains understudied. Methods and Results BT2 (3,6-dichlorobenzo[b]thiophene-2-carboxylic acid), a small-molecule inhibitor of branched-chain ketoacid dehydrogenase kinase, was used to enhance BCAA catabolism. After 2 weeks of transaortic constriction, mice with significant cardiac dysfunctions were treated with vehicle or BT2. Serial echocardiograms showed continuing pathological deterioration in left ventricle of the vehicle-treated mice, whereas the BT2-treated mice showed significantly preserved cardiac function and structure. Moreover, BT2 treatment improved systolic contractility and diastolic mechanics. These therapeutic benefits appeared to be independent of impacts on left ventricle hypertrophy but associated with increased gene expression involved in fatty acid utilization. The BT2 administration showed no signs of apparent toxicity. Conclusions Our data provide the first proof-of-concept evidence for the therapeutic efficacy of restoring BCAA catabolic flux in hearts with preexisting dysfunctions. The BCAA catabolic pathway represents a novel and potentially efficacious target for treatment of heart failure.

The operation of pipelines has been affected by the corrosion caused by water deposited in some low sections of liquid products and natural gas pipeline. Flushing out the deposited water by flowing diesel has become a popular method. This research focused on a local water-diesel flow system with low Uos, in which the flow pattern, velocity and shear stress were analyzed through 2D simulation conducted by FLUENT software based on the grid independent strategy; meanwhile the simulations were verified by comparison with the published data. Under the shear from flowing diesel with laminar flow, the flow pattern was found mainly as smooth and wavy stratified flow. The velocity of diesel phase becomes similar-parabolic distribution with an offset upwards in the radical direction, while there are reflux and eddy inside the residual water. Because of the presence of residual water, the shear stress of the walls become negative, and it increases along the two walls to the interface radically and increases to the maximum on the interface. The average velocity of residual water was found to increase linearly with the superficial velocity of oil flow.

A novel electrochemical sensor was developed combination molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) with nanowell technology, and which was utilized for sensitive and selective 17β-estradiol (17β-E2) detection. A nanowell gold film with a thickness of 120 nm and a pore size of ∼20 nm was immobilized onto gold electrode surface to form a nanowell-based electrode. MIPs was then synthesized onto the nanowell-based electrode using electro-polymerization method, and then the nanowell-based MIP electrochemical sensor was formed. This sensor surface exhibited 3D-nanowell structure with higher surface area and enhanced electron-transport ability, while MIPs afford stronger recognition capability with higher selectivity and specificity. Most importantly, the developed sensor was validated for 17β-E2 detection in food samples with larger detection range from 1 × 10−12 to 1 × 10−5 and lower detection limit of 1 × 10−13. Therefore, such nanowell-based MIP electrochemical sensor may be a promising candidate electrochemical sensor for trace pollution detection in food samples.

D-limonene is one of the main olefin gas compounds released from citrus and its relative content changes most obviously with the infection time of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel). Thus, it is necessary to detect d -limonene content released from citrus, which may lead to detect the presence of early infestation by B. dorsalis in citrus. In this study, a gas-sensing system based on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensors coated with ethyl cellulose (EC) was developed to detect d -limonene aromas emanating from Australian citrus. There was a linear relationship between the frequency shift and d -limonene concentrations ranging from 60 mg m−3 to 6000 mg m−3 with a determination coefficient (R2) of 0.9899, and the limit of detection for d -limonene in pure gas was 300 mg m−3. It has also been observed that the QCM sensor has better selectivity towards d -limonene aroma. Additionally, the sensor was found to be repeatable with an average R value of 96.31 %, and the lifetime of the sensor can be extended at least to one month with an acceptable drift (3.40 %) in their sensing characteristics. Furthermore, it was confirmed that there was high consistency between the QCM sensor’s response and the GC–MS for d -limonene aroma. The six VOCs contributing the most to differentiating citrus infested with B. dorsalis were identified. The gas-sensing system based on QCM sensors has potential feasibility for the rapid detection of the presence of B. dorsalis infestations in postharvest citrus.

The attitude and heading reference system adopted by loitering vehicle is unable to maintain a stable measurement precision during long maneuvering of the carrier due to large errors. For this problem, an adaptive filtering algorithm that provides adaptive adjustment of maneuvering acceleration variance with membership function is proposed in this paper. This algorithm can estimate errors of different sensors' accuracy in various maneuvering scenarios and perform a real-time compensation. In addition, an improved algorithm using sliding three-period rotation vectors is proposed for MEMS gyroscopes with angular rate output, which realizes loitering vehicle attitude updating and shortens the cycle of attitude update. Digital simulation and flight test have demonstrated a high estimation precision of the algorithm in a highly dynamic environment. The algorithm also exhibits a shorter update cycle at the same precision level. The experimental results show that it can meet the application requirements of miniature loitering vehicle.

In chloroplasts, thioredoxin (TRX) isoforms and NADPH-dependent thioredoxin reductase C (NTRC) act as redox regulatory factors involved in multiple plastid biogenesis and metabolic processes. To date, less is known about the functional coordination between TRXs and NTRC in chlorophyll biosynthesis. In this study, we aimed to explore the potential functions of TRX m and NTRC in the regulation of the tetrapyrrole biosynthesis (TBS) pathway. Silencing of three genes

The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of emergency right lobe adult-to-adult living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for high model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score severe hepatitis. Consecutive 10 high MELD score severe hepatitis patients underwent emergency right lobe adult-to-adult LDLT in our hospital from April to December 2007. The MELD score was 34.50 +/- 2.088. The outcomes of these recipients were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, eight cases of ABO blood group were identical and two cases compatible, one case was Rh negative. Two recipients died and the rest of the recipients and all donors are safe; perioperative and 2-year survival rate was 80%. The mean graft-recipient weight ratio (GRWR) was 1.27% +/- 0.25%, and graft volume to recipient standard liver volume ratio (GV/ESLVR) was 56.7% +/- 6.75%. Of the 10 patients, three received right lobe grafts with middle hepatic vein (MHV), four without MHV, three without MHV but followed by V and VIII hepatic vein outflow reconstruction. An encouraging outcome was achieved in this group: elevated serum creatinine, serum endotoxin, decreased serum prothrombin activity, and Tbil returned to normal on postoperative days 3, 7, 14, and 28, respectively. One-year survival rate was 80%. Outcomes of emergency right lobe adult-to-adult LDLT for high MELD score severe hepatitis were fairly encouraging and acceptable. Emergency right lobe adult-to-adult LDLT is an effective and life-saving modality for high MELD score acute liver failure patients following severe hepatitis.